February 29 was a Leap Day to remember for local first responders and Eversource personnel, after the accidental rupture of a municipal gas line during excavation work resulted in rapid evacuations an...
The Connecticut Department of Transportation has announced installation of Wrong Way Driver Countermeasure Systems will take place on I-84 East and West at Exits 10 and 11 next week.
As National Invasive Species Awareness Week 2024 nears its end, Newtown Conservation Commission reminds readers that awareness of and action against invasive plants should be done all year.
Precautionary evacuations took place on Thursday, February 29, throughout Fairfield Hills, after a 2-inch gas line was breached shortly after 8 am during water line work at the Town-owned campus.
Two local establishments were found non-compliant during recent inspections to determine who was following state laws concerning the prohibition of the sale of e-cigarettes and/or tobacco products to youths under the age of 21.
The Board of Finance has finished its review of the 2024-25 proposed budgets and cut more than $500,000.
Published: Feb 29, 2024 08:00 AM
UPDATED: Access to Fairfield Hills was limited this morning following a gas line breach. The campus was evacuated for approximately 2½ hours while first responders and other personnel were on the scene.
UPDATED: Campus Reopened Following Gas Main Break At Fairfield Hills UPDATED: Access to Fairfield Hills was limited this morning following a gas line breach. The campus was evacuated for approximately 2½ hours while first responders and other personnel were on the scene.FINAL UPDATE (1:42 PM): Newtown Municipal Center and NYA Sports & Fitness Center have reopened, Newtown Parent Connection is open, and NewSylum Brewing Company reportedly plans to open at its regular 4 pm time this afternoon.Outdoor areas — walking trails, fields, etc — are now accessible.* * * * * UPDATE (11:06 am) : Newtown Police Department has cleared from Fairfield Hills, as have all firefighters, and the campus has been reopened. Walking trails, outdoor recreation areas, and fields are now open. Businesses and municipal services will remain closed, according to the PD.Repairs to the gas line will continue, also according to the PD.Newtown Municipal Center will remain closed for the day.* * * * * UPDATE (9:21 am): This story has been updated with information from Newtown Police Department.9:51 am: It has also been updated to include details about a CodeRED alert issued by the Town. * * * * * Access to Fairfield Hills this morning is limited following a gas line breach. The campus is being evacuated and first responders are on the scene after a main line was broken around 8:15 am. A construction company has been working on the water line within the campus all week.Eversource and the gas company have been contacted.Newtown Police closed both entrances to the public, and confirmed "the campus has been evacuated and is closed at this time."By 9:20 am, the PD said the gas line was no longer leaking "but the campus remains closed."The PD also noted there were no reported injuries. Newtown Emergency Communications Center Director Maureen Will issued a CodeRED alerting residents to the closure of the campus.“Police and fire are on scene, and they are working to take care of the issue. Please stay away from the campus until further notice.”
BOE Referendum, Round Two, UnderwayRegistered Newtown voters are heading to the polls today, for the second attempt by the Board of Education to get a budget for the 2024-25 academic year passed.Registered Newtown voters are heading to the polls today, for the second attempt by the Board of Education to get a budget for the 2024-25 academic year passed.All voting is again taking place at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street. Polls opened at 6 am and will remain open until 8 pm.Following a rejection of the school budget by 507 votes at a referendum on April 23, the Legislative Council at its April 29 meeting slashed $1,408,307 from the Board of Education’s proposed 2024-25 budget.The reduction was unanimously approved by all 12 councilmen, in contrast to a previous, pre-referendum meeting on March 27, where no bottom line for the school budget drew more than a simple majority of seven votes.The new bottom line of $87,409,066 is a $2,339,415 or 2.75% spending increase over the 2023-24 budget, which places it in line with the municipal budget, which was passed by voters.The previous proposed 2024-25 BOE budget rejected by voters was $88,817,373, which would have been a $3,747,722 or 4.4% spending increase.The education budget failed, 1,701 No votes to 1,194 Yes votes.On the secondary question to the education budget — If the proposed sum for the Board of Education is not approved, should the revised budget be higher? — the responses were 727 Yes and 2,071 No.The Registrar of Voters reported 15.1% of Newtown’s registered voters participated in the April 23 referendum, with 2,952 people showing up at the middle school to vote and another 47 turning in absentee ballots.
It is a shame but yes, we are so broke... The NIMBY crowd will not allow any new development so there is no ability to add to the tax base... got to hire strangers to park at our schools, and grocery stores and sneak around on our property to ensure our kindergartners Spanish class doesn't get canceled.
I was the recipient of such a invasion of my privacy when my daughter was visiting her boyfriend in Waterbury. They tried to get me to pay them taxes instead of Newtown. They were rude, offensive and threatening and I had to call the mayor of Waterbury to finally get it cleared up after being threatened. It was a long drawn out process to get this overturned. Are we that broke that we have to turn our residents over to these mercenaries? This is beyond belief. How dare you hire these rent a cops to harass and threaten us?
Thanks for the quote, many people don’t realize Newtown does not exist in a silo and we have peers to benchmark against. For example Trumbull also spends less per student and outperforms us.
ALL students benefit from consistent policies and quality education. Affordability matters, especially to less affluent families which tend to skew more heavily minority based on census data.